Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’

I continue to see the trailer for an upcoming movie based on the founding of the social networking website Facebook, called “The Social Network.” It is already earning huge buzz from the movie moguls of the world, making its way to the front of the Oscar pack. But is the movie based on fact — or is it purely fiction — or does it matter?

What makes a good movie? Drama, action, adventure, love? If you feel an emotion, from shedding a tear to a pulse-pounding adrenaline rush, does that make the movie a winner? And does distorting the facts matter to the audience when the entertainment value is high?

Wanting to understand more about the movie, I read several articles in anticipation of its October 1 release. One article says, “Any film about real people, real companies and public disputes are always going to come under some scrutiny. There will always be a ‘he said, she said’ no matter how documented the events appear to be. Therefore, it’s no surprise that one of fall’s most anticipated releases, The Social Network, is being criticized from its subject matter: the founders of Facebook.”

Many accounts detail that co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former Facebook President Sean Parker are cast in a very negative light and that some of the scenes are completely untrue. Others say details in the movie are “horrifically unfair.” Zuckerberg is even quoted as saying, “Honestly, I wish that when people try to do journalism or write stuff about Facebook that they at least try to get it right. The movie is fiction.”

But is it? Who will ever know the truth? The movie’s producer, Scott Rudin, says the movie is about conflicting truths, as recalled by Mr. Zuckerberg and his associates, largely in a pair of court cases that ended in settlements. “There is no such thing as the truth,” he says.

Well, with a movie drawing up so much controversy — and one that seems to be packed with excitement, friendship, betrayal, drama, money and action — maybe it doesn’t really matter if the movie is based on the “truth.” Right now, Facebook is trying to ignore the release of the movie. However, “Facebook might be forced to deliver a forceful rebuttal once the film has its premiere, especially if it turn(s) out to be a hit,” says another insider. The truth will set you free — or will it?

Since its inception, Facebook has been subject to a host of changes — different layouts, formats, policies and so on. One of the more recent and widely-noticed changes has been the phasing out of the Facebook Fan Page in favor of the “Like” button. But are you giving the “Like” a thumbs up?

The change was part of a broader plan to spread the “Like” button across the web and lower the barrier for users to become connected with brands and organizations. According to Facebook, users click “Like” almost twice as much as they click “Become a Fan” — so,  if Facebook changes “Become a Fan” to “Like,” more users will click on it. Right?

However, in a poll by Mashable, 29.6% preferred the “Like” button — while 57.3% preferred to “Become a Fan.” The rest were indifferent. (Come on people — Choose a side!) Then, there are the articles that talk about how “fan” is a whole other level of “like,” dictating the Wikipedia definition of the word “fan.” And believe it or not, there is actually a Facebook page titled “‘Like’ vs. ‘Become a fan,’” and you can choose to “Like” it or not. (By the way, there’s only 20 people who do!)

Jay Krall’s article on the Cision blog notes that “when you ‘like’ an article, it gets published to the news feeds of your friends on Facebook. This little feature has the potential to drive new traffic to your content. If you publish press releases or blog posts online, then you should consider using it.”

Is the “Like” button more lightweight, like Facebook says? Do you “Like” the “Like” button? Well, it really doesn’t matter if you actually “Like” it — so far, there is no “Dislike” button.

Distractions in the workplace are inevitable, especially during these summer months when you continue to look outside from your office window — wondering why you can’t be out in the sun at the pool. (that’s not me, I’m just guessing that’s what “one” might be wondering;)

And certainly these distractions have the power to decrease our productivity.

From the Hoosier PRSA blog, here are some simple suggestions for working smarter, not necessarily harder.   

• Make the most of your time both in and outside the office.
• Work on one task and complete it. If you have to jump to something else, try to always pick up where you left off.
• Prioritize and know how to delegate. Spend the last 15 minutes of your day preparing for the next. 
• Unplug from controllable distractions, i.e. social media. Browsing is okay every now and then but try to stay on track. (What? No Facebook chat?!)
• Write things down or find online tools to help you organize your day. For those of you who live on your computers and mobile devices, try TeuxDeux. TeuxDeux is a simple, design, browser-based to-do app, and best of all- it’s free. Try for yourself, http://teuxdeux.com/.
   
  Also, set mini deadlines — if you give yourself a specific time to finish a project, you’ll pace yourself better and work faster than if it’s open-ended. So decide what you must get done by lunch. Or plan to call your mom in an hour, and complete something beforehand.

How do you stay productive? The sooner you get your work done, the sooner you can head out to enjoy the weather!

If you haven’t at least heard of Facebook and Twitter, you have probably been living under a rock — or in denial. But as quickly as you get used to the ins and out of the most popular social media sites, more are on the rise. And these sites want to know where you are, where you’re going and where you’ve been.

Welcome to the location-based social networks, such as Foursquare — which I have previously discussed in another post. I tried out Foursquare — and I while I’m not super familiar with it, I can see the appeal. You “check in” to businesses and other locations in real time, and many places are now offering special perks for their most frequent visitor — called the “mayor” — and others who check in.

But what about Blippy? Customers can tell their friends about the products that they buy through this site, which links merchant accounts to broadcast members’ purchases to the world. Blippy lets you communicate about and share purchases with friends by syncing already existing e-commerce accounts to Blippy such as iTunes, Netflix, Woot, eBay and more.

And then you’ve got TagWhat, which takes a leap into the world of Augmented Reality (AR). It allows people to tag real-world locations and attach information, reviews, links, photos, videos, notes and so on to those particular spots, whether tied to their current location or not. Users can also follow other people and merge their respective ‘markers’ together in an effort to build a global network of augmented reality hotspots.

A little overwhelming, right? Well, maybe it’s best to start with a toe in the ever-changing social media pool instead of taking a flying leap headfirst. But whatever you do, start swimming!

Today’s news atmosphere calls for up-to-the-second news, as soon as you can get it and as fast as you can post it. That includes social media such as Facebook and Twitter, but it also applies to websites. One essential way to keep your website as updated as possible is an online newsroom with fresh, new content that is constantly evolving.

David Henderson, author of “Making News in the Digital Era,” said, “Static newsrooms are the least-visited part of a website because most are just graveyards of old press releases. Your newsroom needs to present the spectrum of all the things that your company is doing within its industry, and hanging press releases there kills credibility.”

The core audience for an organization’s online newsroom is everyone from shareholders and business partners, to customers, donors, employees… and THEN the media. And because newsrooms are not only for the media, practitioners must use a writing style that draws interest in a way people can relate to.

“Nobody cares what your company does unless you tell them in a way that adds value,” Henderson said.

What are some elements to add value to your online newsroom?

• News articles (300-500 words)
• Short videos (HD for B-roll)
• Links to company facts and contacts
• Search capability

And if you use WordPress as your content management system, you’re not alone. Even The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal use it for their blog networks, said Ryan Zuk. There are over 22 million WordPress publishers as of February 2010: 10.6 million blogs hosted on WordPress.com plus 11.4 million active installations of the WordPress.org software. According to Quantcast, around 250 million people visit one or more WordPress.com blogs every month, and they view over two billion pages on those blogs.

So get reading, writing and online newsroom–ing.

I really can’t believe it’s 80 degrees outside in the middle of April. Things are starting to bloom, allergies are starting to annoy, and construction is everywhere. It’s also the time for a new crop of students to graduate college and enter the workforce. And when I found a very interesting blog post from the Council of Public Relations Firms dealing with new hires and tech-savvy Millennials, I was intrigued. (as I am considered one of those tech-savvy Millennials:)

Do you know into which generation you fall? According to most sources, the following applies:

Silent Generation [born 1928-1945]
Baby Boomer Generation [born 1946-1964]
Gen Xer [born 1965-1980]
Gen Yer/Millennial [born 1981 or after]

Millennials are known for being confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and receptive to new ideas and ways of living. But they may not be as loyal to their employers and companies as past generations. This post brought up some great tips on how PR agencies can attract, and keep, their new talent, including offering career advancement opportunities and a greater focus on state-of-the-art technology and social media.

And just because I’m on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter and send a mountainous number of texts and e-mails a day… I don’t know that that necessarily makes me tech-savvy:) — but I try!

Is change a good thing? Or maybe is TOO much change a good thing? I just listened to a Webinar about a change in our e-mail distribution system. And there have been several re-designs to the almighty Facebook, from an added newsfeed to a new layout to countless new applications. New blogs are started daily. The list of social media and social networking sites is seemingly endless and continues to grow.

How can you keep track of it all — and do you want to? As soon as you learn the ins and outs of one site or one blog or one technology, it seems a re-design is right around the corner or a new product is on the horizon. And then you have to re-learn something new all over again. Many users don’t like change, and as a product becomes more popular, users may grow ever more resistant to change.

An article in TIME said, “Perhaps what civilization needs is a NOT-SO-FAST button. In the aging population of the developed world, many people are already tired of trying to keep up with the latest cool new tech. The market for change could dry up, and lock-in might again become the norm.”

Try telling that to the 300,000 customers that purchased the new iPad on the very first day they went on sale. And you won’t hear that from the 500,000 users on Foursquare, which some label the “new Facebook.”

So I guess if you can’t beat em, join em — or get left behind in the flurry of new technology.

Coles Marketing Communications has been named Agency of Record for SteadyGRO, a product manufactured by floral industry giant Syndicate Sales Inc. Coles Marketing Communications will globally market the SteadyGRO brand.

SteadyGRO is an inert, sterile product used by home and greenhouse gardeners, professional gardners and hydroponic growers that optimizes soilless plant growth. Available in plugs, sheets, blocks and slabs, SteadyGRO helps growers maximize results when growing indoor food crops like cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, popular flowering plants, woody ornamentals, vines, ivy and more. SteadyGRO was created to be used as a substitute to rockwool, a soilless growing media developed in Denmark in the early 1970s that has been the standard for vegetable and flower production in North America and Europe for decades. SteadyGRO has been laboratory tested to produce faster seed germination, higher fruit weights and better overall fruit quality than rockwool and, unlike rockwool, SteadyGRO is eco-friendly and can be reduced from its original form to a mass of less than 11 percent or incinerated for bio-mass purposes

Recently, Purdue University conducted a six-month laboratory study that analyzed the performance of growing cucumbers and tomatoes indoors using both SteadyGRO and rockwool. The study concluded that SteadyGRO outperformed rockwool, producing higher germination and fruit weights, plant longevity, general plant health and overall fruit quality.

“We chose Coles Marketing Communications to market SteadyGRO due to the agency’s long and proven history for building and sustaining brand awareness and getting results,” said Kelvin Frye, national sales manager for SteadyGRO. “We have an innovative, revolutionary and proven product in SteadyGRO and Coles Marketing Communications understands how to grow our presence in the international marketplace.”

SteadyGRO is manufactured by Syndicate Sales Inc., a leading manufacturer, importer and distributor of more than 1,500 items to the international floral industry since 1946. Syndicate Sales manufactures brand names Aquapic©, Aquafoam©, Aquaplus the difference is clear©, Aquahold©, Hydraplus©, Hoosier Glass©, Garden Collection© and Everlastin Baskets©. With subsidiary Hurryin’ Hoosier Transport, Syndicate Sales is the leader in customized distribution and delivery to its customers in all 48 contiguous U.S. states and Canada.

How many things are you doing right now… in addition to reading this blog entry, that is? Watching a YouTube video? Writing an e-mail? Sending a text message? Well, it seems that more media multitasking is on the rise — and I can’t say I’m surprised!

The amount of time viewers spent watching TV while at the same time cruising the Internet grew 34.5% last year to an average of 3.5 hours a month in 2009, up from 2.5 hours in 2008, according to a Nielsen Co. report released this week.

Nielsen says nearly 60% of TV viewers now use the Internet once a month while also watching TV — up 3% from a year before. The survey also notes that the number of people who are multitasking grew almost 5% from the year before to 134 million.

“The report seems to suggest that concerns by TV executives that the Internet was taking people away from their shows are unfounded. In fact, live TV viewing increased 1% in 2009. Add in time-shifted viewing a la TiVo, and the average number of hours jumped to a total of 163 hours a month watching TV in 2009, up from 160 hours in 2008.”

So what are people doing as they watch TV? A look the top 5 sites visited by these media multitaskers gives some clues:

Google
Yahoo
Facebook
MSN or Microsoft Bing
YouTube

But is multitasking really a good idea? … Sorry… just got a text… Right, CNN.com says heavy multitaskers are more easily distracted by irrelevant information than those who aren’t constantly in a multimedia frenzy, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Even when you think you’re doing several things at once, you’re more likely switching rapidly back and forth between them — actually compromising productivity. Plus, multitasking puts stress on your brain’s memory-retention center…

Wait, what was I doing?

News about new client SteadyGRO’s impressive performance in a recent Purdue University study hit the national media last week, showing up on the Reuters board in New York’s Times Square (at left) and the Clear Channel message board in Las Vegas.

SteadyGRO is a new product that optimizes soilless plant growth. It’s used by home and greenhouse gardeners, pro gardeners and hydroponic growers to grow food crops like cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, flowers and more. Manufactured by Kokomo, Ind.-based Syndicate Sales, which has for more than 60 years manufactured and distributed more than 1,500 floral related items for the international floral industry, SteadyGRO is available  in plugs, sheets, blocks and slabs.

The Purdue study compared indoor plant growth results using SteadyGro and rockwool, a product developed in the 1970s. A huge difference between SteadyGRO and rockwool is their impact on the environment. SteadyGRO is eco-friendly and can be reduced from its original form to a mass of less than 11 percent or incinerated for bio-mass purposes.

Purdue University research concluded that SteadyGRO H+ was the best-performing soilless growth medium in terms of average grams of fruit harvested per plant in tomatoes and cucumbers. SteadyGRO H+ produced 47 percent more cucumber in terms of fruit weight per plant than rockwool, according to the study, and both SteadyGRO and SteadyGRO H+ outperformed rockwool in promoting the growth of tomatoes by a 23 percent gain in harvested weight.

News of SteadyGRO’s performance compared to rockwool was also picked up by Reuters, Forbes.com, Yahoo! Finance, the Boston Business Journal, the Los Angeles Business Journal, WBTV CBS-3  in Charlotte, N.C., WTHR NBC-13 in Indianapolis and more than 180 other news sites throughout the country.